Black Cab Sessions has been around for a while and they've been taking bands around in their black cab, recording their music in a tiny space, and somehow making simultaneously intimate and wonderful recordings of artists that are now being shown on American television (and you thought it was all trash on at 2 am!). This video demonstrates the playfulness of Givers, while also showing off their amazing talents. I dare you to watch it and not have a huge crush of the girl in the band at the end of it.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Video of the Week
One point if you know who Givers are. One point if you know what Black Cab Sessions is. Three points if you know what both things are. Regardless of your score on a quiz created to give myself the highest score, you should familiarize yourself with both the band and the unique music web site.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Virtual Virtuosos: Clara Chung
This week's featured artist is Clara Chung a.k.a. "ClaraCMusic." She's much better-known than most of the other YouTube artists I've featured so far (she even has a Wikipedia page!), but is still worth mentioning as she has yet to really achieve fame beyond the internet community. On her YouTube channel she posts both covers and original songs/mash-ups, often collaborating with other big-name YouTube musicians or personalities. For example, in the music video for "The Camel Song," Ryan Higa (nigahiga), from the #1 most subscribed channel on YouTube, plays her love interest:
Clara graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Education, but is now pursuing music full-time. If you'd like to see more of Clara, check out her official website, which has links to all of her social media pages.
No Virtual Virtuosos next week because of spring break, but I'll see you guys again in April!
Clara graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Education, but is now pursuing music full-time. If you'd like to see more of Clara, check out her official website, which has links to all of her social media pages.
No Virtual Virtuosos next week because of spring break, but I'll see you guys again in April!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Video of the Week
In true Lana Del Rey fashion, her latest video includes sultry face shots, exotic animals, and a tattooed man. The Blue Jeans video offers a lot of class to the viewer with its black and white aesthetics and well-planned shots. There's a bit of a Last Year at Marienbad feel to the video that really highlights Del Rey's sexy, yet mysterious, vocal qualities. While maybe not as good as the "Born to Die" video, you should definitely give it a look and listen.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tunezday! Feat. The Shins, Conduits, and Tanlines
Indie Rock:
At this time five years ago, I was driving (I had just gotten my license!) home
from soccer practice with my windows rolled down blasting Wincing The Night Away, the third full length album from The
Shins. It seemed to me that James
Mercer had created the perfect springtime album, that is, until now. Today, The Shins release their long
anticipated, fourth full-length album, Port
of Morrow. In the past five
years Mercer dropped his band mates, dropped his indie label Subpop, and signed onto Columbia Records
to create an amazing, intricately detailed pop-rock album. While we all loved the lo-fi days of Oh, Inverted World, the production
quality that comes with working on a major label is more than welcomed as it
allows Mercer to really showoff every element of his songwriting. Mercer hasn’t bought into the
electronic scene as so many artists have, but instead sticks to the bright,
layered guitars that have defined indie rock for so long. It seems only appropriate to me that Port of Morrow comes out during the
first beautiful spring week here in Middlebury. So, go sit outside and blast if from your boom box!
“Shoegaze” is at least the subgenre being cast upon Conduits; however, they are resisting this label and if you listen to
their debut self-titled album, you will understand why. The Omaha, Nebraska natives' official press release explains,
“these aren't affected youth staring at their guitar pedals and hoping that the
audience in front of them would just go away. This is music that pulses and
crackles with energy and incident.”
And it’s true. Driven by
female vocals, the energy of this album is undeniable. It is spacious and begs to be listened
to under the sun in the open air. Midway through the album, the track “On
The Day” starts out a little quieter, a little calmer, and then breaks into
epic cymbal crashes, rhythms, and chanting vocals. Quit staring at your feet and check out this album being
released today on Team Love Records.
Electronic: Today,
Brooklyn duo Tanlines finally release their highly anticipated full length
debut Mixed Emotions. It’s possible that the beautiful
weather has made me a little loopy, but I think most people would agree that
this album features some of the best summer dance songs yet. There is an evident heavy club beat influence,
but Mixed Emotions also maintains a
balance with quirky and accessible melodies and rhythms. Songs like “Real Life” and “Brothers”
have been on the blogosphere for a while, but check out the rest of the album
for even more danceable summer tunes.
Stream a few more of this weeks best new releases here:
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Listen to Bon Iver's cover of "Coming Down" by Anais Mitchell '04
One of Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver)'s favorite live gimmicks is to cover a song by a lesser-known acoustic artist. Recently, he covered "Coming Down," a track by Middlebury '04 grad Anais Mitchell, at an in-studio live performance at an Australian radio station; listen and download over at Stereogum.
In the past, Bon Iver has covered one of my favorite songs of all time, recent WRMC fave Sharon van Etten's "Love More"; hear his (not as great) cover here and the phenomenal original here. AND here is an exhaustingly comprehensive list of Bon Iver covers (thanks, Stereogum!); there are a few diamonds in the folk-rock rough. Covers are always tricky ground, and I wouldn't say Bon Iver has mastered the delicate craft of making another's song one's own...Swedish-Argentine singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez has though. Have you heard his wonderful acoustic rendition of fellow Swedes the Knife's "Heartbeats"? If not, get thee to this link immediately!
Don't forget to check out Anais Mitchell's new album Young Man In America and Sharon van Etten's stunning third record Tramp, both on Rotation here at WRMC!
Virtual Virtuosos: Chris Doyle
This week's featured artist is the 18-year-old Chris Doyle. He's only been on YouTube for about two years and has fewer than 1,000 subscribers, but I think he is one of the more talented YouTube musicians I've come across. Check it out:
If you like what you hear, go ahead and check out his YouTube channel, or like him on Facebook.
If you like what you hear, go ahead and check out his YouTube channel, or like him on Facebook.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
DOWNLOAD: Lana Del Rey x Notorious B.I.G.: "Born Ready To Die"
Now that it's happened, it seems as inevitable a mashup as "The Grey Album." Honestly, it seems incredible it took this long for someone to lay the verses and beats of the towering rap classic "Ready To Die" by the late Notorious B.I.G. on top of the strings and vocals of Lana Del Rey's painful 2012 debut, "Born To Die," but DJ Terry Urban has finally performed the inevitable. It's really the best possible use of Del Rey's album, which is an offensive and just bad piece of music with TONS of atmosphere. The result is, at the very least, pretty badass. It's a bit much at album length, but it's an entertaining and interesting recontextualization of one of the greatest rap albums ever, and it's worth some of your time. Download the entire mixtape here, via Pretty Much Amazing.
Also from PMA: check out this kinda sorta addictive remix of LDR's "Blue Jeans."
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Video of the Week
This week's video is a bit different than the last one. Okay, a LOT different. Kendrick Lamar is one of the sickest rappers out there right now. His flow is OUT OF CONTROL. I didn't even know words could come out of someone's mouth this fast. This video has a lot of subtleties that can easily be missed, so pay attention to the lyrics and the graphics and just you may find yourself in a state shock, or rigor mortis.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tunezday!...aka New Music Tuesday!
TECHNO: Fans of
Depeche Mode, listen up! It’s been
nearly thirty years since Depeche Mode co-founders Vince Clarke and Martin Gore
have worked together, but this week they are releasing a brand new album of
instrumental, dance techno tunes under the artist name VCMG. The album, Ssss, consists of 10 brand new tracks comprised of super heavy, undulating
bass, juxtaposed with danceable, melodic synths. Grab a nice set of headphones (I attempted to listen with
cheap ear-buds and regret it immediately) and check out this new album!
COUNTRY: The Memphis band Lucero's newest album, Women & Work, can be more accurately described as not just country, but country soul mixed with some classic, gritty rock and roll. While "old-school" Lucero stuck to a strictly alternative-country sound, after signing with Universal/Republic Records in 2009, the band took on a bigger sound by adapting a heavy soul influence and a powerful horn section. The band is no longer with the label, but the sound influence remains evident on their newest album, which you can check out this week on Rolling Stone.
INDIE ROCK: One of the best
things about writing this blog post is that every once in awhile I follow a
link expecting nothing, and finding something awesome. Fenster is a band that started as a
project between New Yorker JJ Weihl and Berlin native Jonathan Jarzyna with
hopes of, according to Earbuddy, “creating pop songs from distortion and
various effects to build dreamy sonic backdrops.” Their first album, Bones,
is being released today and manages to conjure up thoughts of so many other
bands and sounds, while simultaneously presenting a completely unique sound in
and of itself, perhaps better than most other albums being released these
days. The distorted vocals are
immediately reminiscent of The Strokes, Arcade Fire and the Flaming Lips, while
the musical melodies made me think of Beirut or the xx or maybe both depending
on the song! While this all seems
to be completely incompatible, Fenster somehow does it so right.
UPDATE: JJ Weihl from Fenster is a Midd alum! They will be playing at 51 Main on April 6! Check out the comments section for a bit more info and check out their website here!
Stream a few more of this week's best new releases here:
Monday, March 12, 2012
Beauty in Strange Land
Yellow Ostrich released their second album, Strange Land, last Tuesday and it's well worth a listen (or twenty).After coming out of the gates running with their debut album, The Mistress, I was skeptical to how a sophomore album would compare to what I already considered one of the best albums in my iTunes library. While I still think The Mistress takes the cake in terms of overall excellency, Strange Land is biting at its heels.
The first track on the album, "Elephant King," starts the album on a playful note that continues throughout. The album exudes a new confidence in the band and they've clearly stepped up their songwriting. "Daughter" begins with the lyric "I won't let you bring me down/said the man with the grin." The album overall has a deeper, darker feeling than tracks from Mistress like "Hahahohoho," but manages to make the music just as fun. It's definitely a sophomore album, but don't we all have to grow up at some point?
Grade: A-
Best tracks:
"Elephant King"
"Marathon Runner"
"Stay At Home"
"Wear Suits"
Stream it here:
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